Release Day Review: Witches for Hire (Odd Jobs #1) by Sam Argent

All recovering drug addict and witch Jeremy Ragsdale wants is to shamble on to the next job without any disasters. Instead, the temp agency saddles him with a fellow witch who hates him, an Amazon one violent outburst away from deportation, and a knight from another world as his boss. Even worse, their jack-of-all-trades magic business stumbles upon a conspiracy to kill Desmond the Great, Atlanta’s sexy star magician. Jeremy must prevent it without letting his colleagues know that he not only has ties to the energy vampires behind the plot, but that his past misdeeds might have instigated the attacks.

Despite Jeremy sporting a suit and tie like a good witch, his lies snowball to bite him in the ass. The lack of trust brewing between him and his teammates could cost Desmond his life and Jeremy his progress on the straight and narrow path if his secrets are revealed. Because no matter how much Jeremy has reformed, there’s still enough bad witch in him to kill anyone who messes with him or the people he cares about.

This is gonna be a quick and dirty review ‘cause there’s nothing I can say about it without spoiling the book.

I’ll just come out and say… I. Loved. This. Book.  I loved the characters, the action, the plot, the romance, the world building, the angst and the humor.  But most of all I loved the writing.  Oh, the writing!  If ever there was something to debate about this story, it’s the writing.  There will be some that don’t like the author’s style.  In fact, I think most people will be frustrated by it and potentially abandon it before they reach the halfway point.  Not me.  I was so attuned to it I felt it deep in my soul.

There’s not one single bit of telling in this book.  Everything is show, show, show.  And what a show it is!  The world building is extremely organic.  You’re viewing the world as if you are expected to already know how it works.  The story unfolds in bits and pieces and seemingly unnecessary offshoots, giving you absolutely no clue as to what is going on and feeling like maybe you missed something.  You’re left to discover the secrets on your own.  Once I got about a third of the way in, it all started coming together and suddenly I was riveted.  I could not put the book down!  And the way everything culminated in the end left me breathless.  I was in absolute awe. 

It’s like Sam Argent has direct access to my brain and fine-tuned the words to align perfectly with my patterns.  The story is chaotic and goes back and forth between four or five different points of view.  One minute you’ll feel like you’re getting somewhere with a plot point and then you turn the page and she’s gone off in a different direction.  This is where I feel a lot people will abandon the book because they just can’t wrap their mind around what is going on.  For me, though, my brain is already chaotic; my mind works in this exact way so I was ecstatic to say the least.  Can I just tell you how freaking amazing it feels to find a book that speaks to you in your own personal language?  I mean, just knowing there is someone else out there in the world that thinks the exact same way I do is exhilarating.  I don’t feel so alone in the world any more.

This book is quirky.  So, so, so damned quirky.  Between Jeremy’s snark, the drugged out werewolf who thinks the trees look like angels and his witch mate (who really wears the pants in that family), the Amazon who kicks ass with glee, the absolutely swoon-worthy magician and the wizard who puts up with it all (he’s just trying to get his green card, people, c’mon!) there’s something in here for everyone.  The action is non-stop; you’ll hardly be able to catch your breath between chapters.  I highly, highly recommend this to those who maybe think a little differently than the norm.  If you loved her other book, Family of Lies: Sebastian, then I guarantee you’ll like this one too.

And if all this wasn’t enough to convince you to read this book, I’ll leave you with two words:

Ass goblins

*mic drop*